More Randomness

I'm still not feeling all that creative and I've been extremely busy at work, so I'm just going to write small bursts about some random topics that aren't really worth an entire post alone.

Final KU Trip - Wednesday was my seventeenth and final trip to KU for my project from work. And today, I got the bundle of data back from the facility, and it is unusable in the format they sent. So, now, I have (probably) 2-4 days of solid computer work to fix something that could have been done correctly the first time. Realistically, I could be a jackass and send it back and tell them to do it right. However, if I choose to do it myself, it gives me an excuse to hang around my laptop at work for an undefined number of hours when I should be normally spending that time standing (chained) to my bench. Since the KU visits are now complete, I don't have lost the potential of having guaranteed days out of my usual lab. I will now be forced to spend my existence inside of this gray, poorly lit, disgusting building for eternity. I may have to start taking random vacation days to give some prospect of not being here to keep my sanity. In honesty, I (somewhat) like my position and work, but the setting is so undesirable that it drags down the mood - and this isn't just my opinion - it's pretty universal among the denizens of the building.

The Royals - As of right now, the Royals are 5-0 against teams that aren't the Texas Rangers (5-3 overall) in spring training. They've won two of their games in the ninth inning including yesterday's walkoff homerun by Ryan Shealy. Maybe this season there will be a reason to watch entire games instead of knowing that once they get behind it's as good as over. There is a brewing excitement in KC because the team may prove to possess the ability to achieve mediocrity this season!

The Economy - The post I wrote earlier this week about the economy may have been overly optimistic. New jobs data came in today and was far worse than expected. The number analysts was projecting was a build of 25,000 jobs and instead there was a cut of 63,000 jobs during the month of January. That's not very promising. Additionally, it was recently brought to my attention to check out a company called Ambac (thanks J-Dub for the suggestion) to point out what could happen in the near future. To make an extremely long story short, our banking industry is relying on bond insurers, such as Ambac, lending their AAA credit ratings to other entities to keep the system operational. This week Ambac had to raise $1.5 billion (which I find worrisome because the company only has a $1 billion market cap) to insure that they themselves maintain the AAA rating. Should they lose the AAA rating - then term being tossed around is - Armageddon - i.e. collapse of the country's banking system. That's a lot of faith in a company that has lost 92% of it's value in the last one year. Oh yeah, and oil just closed at $105.50 today.

Hilarious Commercial - I couldn't bear to end the post on such a sour note, so here's the type of thing that perks me up... the new Old Spice Hair and Body Wash advertisement. I saw this commercial a couple weeks ago with Megan and we actually skipped back to watch it over because it caught us both off guard. My favorite parts are the talking anatomical dummy with the accent, the "Yes, idiot" line to the male model and the almost unnoticeable last second of the spot where the person showering has one hairy leg and one hairless leg. Who thinks of this stuff? I'm shocked that such an amusing commercial was debuted at some time other than during the Super Bowl. Congrats Old Spice on making me laugh. I will consider using your Hair and Body Wash product because it should be right for me, since I have hair here and here, but not here. You'll have to use your imagination as to where I was pointing. On second thought... don't.